Dior’s Glacier is a new Asia-exclusive release.  I feel kind of silly about it, or like I crossed some sort of nail-polish-crazy line, because I had to order it from Hong Kong.  But it is so beautiful!  I also have to admit that I kind of think it was worth it.

Dior seems to release two pastel shades as Asia exclusives each spring.  There was a pair of pink and white polishes last year, and this year Glacier came out with a sheer white called Icy Dew.  I have finally resigned myself to the fact that when Dior releases these “exclusives” they really mean it.  For example, in December I spent weeks hoping to find Swan pop up on the US Dior website and even called Selfridge’s in London, and all for naught – it was clear that I was actually unable to buy it.  I’m not really used to that – usually the internet can solve that problem.

So when pictures of Glacier started showing up I decided to just haul off and buy it off of eBay.  The seller posted a very nice, clear English listing on US eBay, but it was shipping from Hong Kong.  When I received it, it was in a tiny envelope and wrapped in the  tightest bubblewrap packaging I’ve ever seen.  I initially freaked out because the bottle had been removed from the box, and the box had been  flattened.  It came out of the little envelope like a piece of paper.  But when I carefully refolded it, the box was absolutely perfect, in better shape than polish boxes from Sephora or Nordstroms often are.  So this is a happy story.

Glacier is a muted very light warm greyish color that has a little blue in it, and a heavy blue shimmer.  I kept seeing it described as a light blue, so I was a little surprised by how grey it looked in person.  It went on a little sheer but nicely.  I used three coats for the pictures below.  In the sun the shimmer is  really noticeable and pretty, but it somehow doesn’t really seem to have bothersome brushstrokes.  It reminds me of the formula on Dior’s Or Divin from Holiday, although with three coats it builds to be even more opaque than that one.  I love this color!  I love that it’s kind of a light blue, but it has the least blue possible to still be called light blue by anyone.  It comes off as pearly and muted and clean and springy.  It’s perfect.

In this picture you can see the heavy shimmer and a little bit of brushstrokes, but they really aren’t visible at most angles.

I compared to three coats of Chanel’s Riva, which was previously the least light blue color that was still a light blue in my collection.  I was actually surprised by how similar these are, although they’re not really that close.  In the bottle Riva looks brighter and more yellow, but it’s so sheer on the nail that it also has a greyish cast.  In the picture below, Glacier is on my index and middle fingers and Riva is on my ring and pinky fingers.  Riva has a slight blue shimmer, but you can’t really see it on the nail.  I think Glacier wins this comparison by far.  I love its heavier shimmer and the way that it has a whiter, truer grey undertone.  It also goes on much more smoothly and isn’t streaky for such a light color.  Riva is more watery and possibly more summery, but its streaky formula makes it difficult to work with.

Glacier seems to truly be an Asia exclusive, so if you don’t have friends in that part of the world, you’re left with eBay.